A Hollywood star has submitted plans to make her multimillion-pound mansion in Sussex even more green. Cate Blanchett has put forward proposals to Wealden District Council to install a photovoltaic system and one or more new circuits at her “haunted” Highwell House in Crowborough. Photovoltaic panels convert the sun’s thermal energy into electricity, while solar panels convert the sun’s solar radiation into heat.
Read more: Cate Blanchett made first-ever ambassador for Wakehurst The plans come a year after the Oscar-winning actress, best known for her roles as Galadriel in Lord of the Rings and as Elizabeth I in Elizabeth, got the green light to build 90 solar panels and extend the plant room on the 13-acre estate . The 55-year-old’s plans were almost scuppered by the presence of great crested newts. The property is surrounded by vast swathes of green (Image: SWNS) An ecological survey had identified “mitigation” that was required to protect the newts and other species which would be affected by the digging of “trenches” to house connecting cables.
Blanchett and her playwright husband Andrew Upton, 58, were told they must also obtain an additional district licence to avoid being in breach of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act. This law makes it an offence for anyone to "intentionally or recklessly disturb, harm or kill great crested newts, or damage, destroy or obstruct their breeding and resting places”. The couple agreed to apply for the district lice.